Established 2005 Registered Charity No. 1110656

Scottish Charity Register No. SC043760

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Planning application Crisis

May 20 2009
Tower Hamlets refuses building consent for Crisis‘s landmark Urban Village project Crisis's application to Tower Hamlets council for its landmark Urban Village project has been refused. The Tower Hamlets Strategic Development Committee, voted on 14th September and rejected the proposal from Crisis to implement the project on its chosen site: a 23-storey block of one-bed flats off Mildmay hospital, behind Shoreditch Church. Ex-Crisis CEO Shaks Ghosh originally proposed the project, and put her last effort as chief executive of the organisation to bring her idea forward. She is to be replaced by Leslie Morphy at the beginning of November. Ghosh said: "We had a one-off opportunity to change the lives of residents in Tower Hamlets with a ¬¨¬£60m investment in the local community. It is also a tragedy for the 36 residents of the Mildmay Hospital who have to continue living in a dilapidated building. "Today, I have nothing to share but great sadness for the lives and the future of homeless people in the borough who have been denied the opportunity of housing, health and jobs that the rest of us take for granted." A total of 800 local people in Shoreditch opposed the project, which could have brought rough sleepers and working people into a mixed community. The project, on which Ghosh worked for the last five years, is modelled on the success of Common Ground in New York. Campaigners in Shoreditch set up their stronghold on Bethnal Green's Gascoigne estate. They claimed that they support the homeless, but that the development would be unacceptable, as it has numerous significant departures from Tower Hamlets and London-wide planning law. If given the go-ahead, the Urban Village could have marked the first time for many to experience integrated support and community life as well as giving the opportunity for training and work.
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